I thought you may be interested in how an inexperienced player handles a world war

The Secret Allies in this world war were very nicely positioned, in lumps on the opposite sides of the continent, which prevented confusion of being attacked from three sides at once. Both southermost countries were neutral. On the western continent, I held the country just nort of that (Large) and north-east (medium). I had two more countries on that continent, one right in the middle but surrounded by mountains, and another on the top, sandwiched between two enemy allies. On the eastern continent, I had the country north of the southermost, and another north-east of that.

I disclosed my two southermost cuntries on the western continent. The large country was about to push straight north, with a couple of tanks and a rocket launcher. To prevent any unwanted surprises, I placed a few tanks and another rocket launcher south. The other country was about to strike north-east. Once again, I opted for my favorite tanks/rocket launcher combo.

The enemy disclosed two nations. The one I wanted to attack north, and one in the center north; his large country. Immediatelly, he pushed south to attack me with the first country, and south-east to invade a country that bordered with the country I was about to invade. Once he move, he declared another country, on the north-west corner of the continent. I found a small ally to be sandwiched between two of his countries. Of course, I took advantage of it and declared this ally. I did it to slow down the enemy depoyment south, especially from the latge country. It worked, if only partially, as he had enough resources there to move south-east. Meanwhile, I cleared the enemies in my large country, and started pouncing the enemy smalfoots just north of my border. I had no problems invading pushing north-east, and I started to dispose of the guerrillas there. The enemy decided to launch a counter-attack in two directions, around the mountains. His north-west corner country started to send tanks down to support his other ally, and he pushed very fast south-east to gat his units into the country I was attacking before I could take over. This was a smart maneuver, as the country was easily defensible, with only three hexes controlling all access points. He then declared another ally, the northernmost country on the eastern continent, and created a few tritons to send across the channel and aid his offensive.

I realized that I was in deep trouble. The enemy cut through my defenses in my northern country without serious problems, and he was sending down annihilators and tritons to strike at my richest countries. I was very lucky to have the country in the middle of the continent. I declared it, and placed units along its access points to the enemy's two western countries. The enemy was unable to block all my paths, and I managed to sneak in a few units to the country I was attacking from south, thus preventing any quick reinforcements. Within a few turns, I took the capital there and the war became largely static, as we were battling in a forest.

Meanwhile, the enemy declared another country, just south of the northernmost country on the eastern continent, and placed his units to invade south. This was his last country, and I realized that the two southern countries on each continent were neutral. I quickly declared my two countries on the eastern continent, and in a matter of a few turns took two neutrals. Meanwhile, my units already positioned along my southern border on the western continent took that country. The situation in the east looked great. A few turns later, I took a neutral large country, then another neutral and pushed into the country the enemy was invading from the south. At this point, I've had over 20 tanks there, 3 bombers and 2 rocket launchers, and I was confident I would take the whole continent.

In the west, the situation looked dire. The western front was pretty much a stalemate, and the eastern front withered down to two undefended rocket launchers and three bombers. Meanwhile, however, I was able to raise a navy of battleships, destroyers and a few amphibians, which helped me to bomb the enemy's forces into oblivion, which in turn allowed me to raise units in my country and defend my borders. The enemy made a crucial mistake here. He raised over a dozen destroyers, all of which would have to operate in a very narrow channel, and thus were largely ineffective, doing a maximum damage of four points per turn. To make his situation worse, he attacked a neutral on the north-east corner of the western continent and left a route open for one of my guerrillas to sneak into his large country. While he didn't have any income there, he freaked out and sent all his destroyers north, in order to help his five smallfoots to take on four LAVs. This has given me the time to optimally deploy my navy, and later destroy all his ships, at a rate of 20 damage points per turn. It also enabled me to bomb his ground units, and after I chased out his rocket launchers from another country, I took it over and in a few turns I won.

I learned three lessons in this game. First, the A.I. is always overreacting. A few units attacking him at the far side of the map would make him draw all his units that are not engaged in combat there. This gives me several crucial turns, in which I can really hurt him. His navy wasn't the only eample. He was moving units up north back and forth, without having them actually engage in combat at all. Second, the enemy values his rocket launchers above all else. He will withdraw them even if it costs him a country. Third, the enemy does not take into account the terrain. He raised tanks in a forest, where they'd be limited in movement, while he deployed an army of smallfoots on an open plain. If he did it the other way round, he'd have a shot to take the eastern continent before I did, and he'd stall me as long, if not longer on the western front. Still, for an inexperienced player like me, the game was challenging.

I still think of myself as a newbie, as many medium-difficulty scenarios cause me problems. I guess I was lucky that we were pretty much divided on the other sides of the continent, which enabled me to create a unified front in the middle instead of lots of small skirmishes.

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